( 25 ) 



tomers for tlie cattle of the crofters — and tliey were the 

 only field upon which the benefits of good farming could 

 be held up to the example and imitation of the poorer 



people. Tyree is almost singular among the He- No waste lands 



1 . T . , 1 . , 1 , , 1 i. 1 1 1 and no moors on 



brides m tins — that there are no waste lands, properly jgi-^j^j 



so called, upon it. There are no moors — no mosses to 



be reclaimed. The old mosses have been Ions: ex- 



hausted and cut away to the very bones of rock and 



gravel. 



I wish the Commission, therefore, distinctly to Large farms not 



understand, that with one sino-le exception which I S'^^"^^/^^ expense 



° ^ of crofters. 



shall refer to presently, what may be called the large 

 farms in Tyree have not been gained at the expense 

 of the crofters. On the contrary, in Tyree the pro- 

 cess so much complained of elsewhere has been re- 

 versed. The crofters now possess farms which up to 

 a late date w^ere held by single *' Tacksmen; " whilst 

 in one case only have individual tenants, now oc(fiipy- 

 ing the larger farms, replaced the regular crofting 

 population as it stood in 1846. A few families who 

 belonged to what may be called the class of squatters, 

 and who had settled upon one or two of these farms, 

 occupying upon part of them very small bits of land, 

 were amono; the number of those who emio:rated, or 

 were subsequently moved. But with the one excep- 

 tion above-mentioned, the only other example of any 

 considerable removal of crofters is a case in which 

 both the cause and the consequences were entirely 

 different. It arose from insolvency and non-payment 

 of rent. And in this case the farm was not let to 

 a new tenant, but was divided between four of the 

 existing crofting tenants, in respect to whom there 

 was good hope that with larger and more comfortable 



